Maddie’s Dream (14 page)

But no—she wasn't going to think about that right
now. She was just going to do her best at this tryout and worry about everything else later.

A whistle blew, and Coach Wu gave her a shove. “Get back out there and make me proud, girl,” she said with a grin.

Maddie nodded, wiped the water off her mouth, and ran back out to take her position. She found herself facing off against a ridiculously tall, willowy girl with short blond hair. Everyone had been whispering about her all day—she was from some little town off to the east of Sacramento, and nobody could believe she was really only twelve, but everyone said she was the best dribbler in California. Supposedly, nobody in her home league could keep up with her.

Well, I'm going to show her she's not in her home league anymore,
Maddie thought, clenching her fists and focusing everything she had on the scrimmage.

She might not be able to stop the Richardsons from wanting to buy Cloudy, or force her neighbors to hire her for odd jobs, or even convince her parents not to make her come to this tryout. But this? This was something she could do. She could show that tall girl that Maddie Martinez was a force to be reckoned with on the soccer
field! The Richardsons, Ms. Emerson—even Cloudy—faded out of her mind as the whistle blew to start play.

By the time the tryout scrimmage ended, Maddie had intercepted the tall girl three times, stolen the ball from her once, and scored two goals. She was panting, her muscles were screaming, and she was dripping sweat from every pore, but she felt good. That had been fun!

Coach Wu was grinning as Maddie jogged toward her. “You know I'm a pessimist, right?” she said. “Even so, I'm thinking you have a good shot of making the league. You were awesome today, Maddie!”

Maddie smiled, but her mind was already wandering. “Thanks,” she said, grabbing a bottle of water and chugging half of it.

“We should hear some results by the end of next week,” the coach continued, tossing Maddie a towel. “Stay tuned, okay?”

“Yeah.” But Maddie wasn't really thinking about soccer anymore. Her mind had wandered all the way back to Solano Stables. What was going on there today? Had Amber or Filly come to ride Cloudy? What if the
Richardsons made an offer to buy her before Maddie got a chance to talk to Ms. Emerson about her own proposal?

As soon as she got home, Maddie shut herself in her room and locked the door. Tillie was still at the mall, so she wouldn't come pounding on the door anytime soon, but Maddie didn't want any interruptions from her dad or the boys.

Not bothering to change out of her sweaty soccer clothes, she flopped onto her bed and hit one of the presets on her phone. Vic answered on the third ring.

“Hey, Maddie!” Her voice sounded cheerful, which gave Maddie hope that she hadn't missed anything too dramatic—like the Richardsons loading up Cloudy and taking her away to some other barn. “What's up? How'd your tryout go?”

“Fine,” Maddie replied. “How were things at the barn?”

“Hold on a sec.” Maddie could hear Vic talking to someone in the background—probably her twin. “It's Maddie.”

A second later, Val's voice came on the line. “Hi, Maddie. We missed you in our lesson today.”

“I missed you guys too.” Maddie pressed the phone
tighter against her ear. “But listen, what else went on? Did the Richardsons ride Cloudy today?”

“They were supposed to,” Val said. “Ms. Emerson was in a big hurry at first because Amber and Filly were scheduled to come ride Cloudy and Doodle right after our lesson. But they called while we were tacking up and canceled.”

“Really?” Maddie said. “Why'd they cancel?”

“I don't know.”

There was the sound of a scuffle and a peeved “hey!” from Val, and then Vic's voice came back on the line.

“Yeah, Ms. E was totally cheesed off. You could tell,” she said. “I mean, they called just as we were getting ready to go out to the ring—that's only like an hour before they were supposed to be there!”

Maddie felt a flicker of hope. Ms. Emerson didn't have much patience for tardiness or no-shows or flakiness of any kind. Maybe she'd get fed up enough with the Richardsons to tell them to take a hike!

Then again, maybe she'd decide it was easier to stop giving them lessons and just sell Cloudy to them and tell them to take her to another barn. . . .

“So they didn't say why they weren't coming?” Maddie asked, trying not to dwell on that second possibility.

She could almost hear Vic shrug through the phone. “If they did, Ms. E didn't tell us,” Vic replied. “So anyway, Cloudy got the day off. She should be nice and rested for the Snack and Swim ride tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” Suddenly Maddie had another thought. “Wait, did Ms. E tell the Richardsons about the Snack and Swim? What if they show up tomorrow expecting to have their lesson then?”

“Tough luck if they do,” Vic replied. “She's not theirs yet, right? And you're already signed up to ride her tomorrow.”

“Right.” Maddie felt a little better. Ms. Emerson wouldn't pull the pony out from under Maddie after promising she could ride her on the Snack & Swim. Cloudy would definitely be all hers tomorrow.

Maddie just hoped it wouldn't be their last ride together.

CHAPTER

SUNDAY MORNING DAWNED BRIGHT AND
sunny and not too hot—a perfect summer day. Maddie woke up before the alarm went off, feeling excited even before she remembered why.

Then she glanced at her swimsuit, which was hanging over the back of a chair near the bed, and remembered. It was the day of the Snack & Swim ride!

Hopping out of bed, she shut off the alarm and glanced across the room. Tillie even looked tidy and perfect when she slept—she was on her back, her dark hair perfectly arrayed on her pillow like a halo. Her pink silk eye mask covered half her face, and her sheet lay flat and straight over her body.

On another day, Maddie might have been tempted to mess with that perfection somehow—maybe put goofy eyeball stickers on the mask or hide a fake spider under the sheet. But she didn't have time for that sort of thing today.

Grabbing the clothes she'd set out on her chair the night before, she headed across the hall to the bathroom. After a quick shower, she pulled on her swimsuit and then her riding clothes. She gathered her hair into a ponytail without bothering to dry it—after all, it would only get wet again later.

Tiptoeing back into her room, she grabbed her laptop. Tucking it under her arm, she headed down to the kitchen.

“Morning, Mads,” her father greeted her as the two of them passed on the stairs. “I'm going to jump in the shower; then I can drive you to the barn. Make sure you eat something before we go.”

“Okay, thanks.” Maddie continued into the kitchen. It was deserted, though she could tell by the coffee cup in the sink that her mother had already been there and left.

Maddie poured herself a bowl of cereal, then logged on to her laptop as she ate. When she loaded the Pony Post there were several new messages waiting for her.

[NINA]
Good morning Maddie! Post something when u see this, because SURPRISE!—we're all here waiting to wish you well today!

[BROOKE]
Right! For the Snack & Swim, and also your chat w/Ms. E.

[HALEY]
I'm here too! Hope you check in before you leave for the barn or we're all going to feel rly stupid, lol!

[NINA]
She'd better check in, or she's in big trouble! Ha ha!

“Aw, you guys!” Maddie murmured, touched that her friends had gone to the trouble of figuring out when she'd be likely to check in and making sure they were all online.
How could she ever have doubted their love and loyalty? She quickly opened a new text box.

[MADDIE]
I'm here, I'm here! U guys are the best! But don't u have anything better to do on a Sunday morning than sit around waiting for me, lol?

She sent the post, then sat back and waited. It only took a moment for the responses to start coming.

[BROOKE]
What could be more important than u?

[HALEY]
Yeah. Besides, my uncle made pancakes & venison sausage for breakfast, and I'm too stuffed to move, lol!

[NINA]
OK, enuf about what u all had for b'fast! I want to hear what Maddie decided about talking to Ms. E.

[MADDIE]
To be honest, I haven't decided yet. When do u all think I should talk to her?

[BROOKE]
I think you should just enjoy the S&S ride, then talk to her afterward.

[HALEY]
I dunno . . . I'm not sure u should talk to her until you've saved up more $$$. Otherwise, she might not take u seriously, u know?

[BROOKE]
But what if the R's make an offer in the meantime? My stepdad would say “The early bird makes the sale.”

[HALEY]
LOL! What does that even mean?

[BROOKE]
I dunno, but he says it a lot, lol!

[NINA]
Whatev, if it were me, I wouldn't be able to wait. I'd probably talk to Ms. E as soon as I saw her and get it out of the way so I could relax and enjoy the ride. That's just me—but I think Mad might be the same way, maybe???

Maddie bit her lip. Was Nina right? If she didn't talk to Ms. Emerson right away, would worrying about it ruin the ride?

Then again, the other two had good points as well. All along, Maddie had figured it might be better to wait until after the Snack & Swim, when Ms. Emerson would probably be much more relaxed. Or maybe Haley was right and she should wait even longer. . . .

Hearing her father's footsteps in the hall upstairs, Maddie quickly shoveled the last few bites of soggy cereal into her mouth. Then she typed another response.

[MADDIE]
Not sure what I'll do yet—but I'll let u know this afternoon. Gtg—I don't want to be late!

[BROOKE]
Have fun! And don't worry, everything will work out.

[NINA]
Ya—the spirit of Misty is looking over u and Cloudy!

[HALEY]
Wish we could all be there w/u!

[MADDIE]
Me2! Will check in later. Bye!

She logged off and carried her bowl and spoon to the sink. By the time her father came into the kitchen, she was tying her boots.

“Ready to go?” her dad asked, grabbing the car keys off the counter.

Maddie felt a tiny shiver run down her spine. “I'm ready.”

The barn was buzzing with activity when Maddie walked in. Just about every horse and pony was scheduled to go on the Snack & Swim ride—that meant nearly twenty riders would be getting ready at one time. Luckily, only about half of those riders had arrived so far, but the place was already a madhouse!

The twins were grooming their mounts in side-by-side crossties. Vic spotted Maddie and waved. “You're here! Hurry and put Cloudy in the crossties next to us.”